Senator mum on junket questions

Updated 7:40 am, Monday, May 13, 2013

This photo on Sen. Eric Adams Senate Web page illustrates one of the stops he and Sen. John Sampson took on a trip to South Korea in October 2011.

This photo on Sen. Eric Adams Senate Web page illustrates one of the stops he and Sen. John Sampson took on a trip to South Korea in October 2011.

Senator mum on junket questions

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Last week, Sen. Eric Adams stated "I believe deeply in transparency." Yet he continued to refuse to answer lingering questions about the four nights in October 2011 he spent in South Korea. The Brooklyn Democrat was on a trip with Sen. John Sampson and others, including a lobbyist from Albany's biggest firm.

Adams promised to cooperate with "any" investigation after a document provided to a federal judge was made public in federal court last week. His name was on the list of public officials taped by former Sen. Shirley Huntley, a Queens Democrat who last summer wore a wire at the direction of criminal investigators looking into the activities of several elected officials.

When asked last week by the Times Union to discuss the Korea trip he took with Sampson, D-Brooklyn, Adams revealed about as much as he provided in December 2011 -— that private and campaign funds were used.

This time he had a political aide, Evan Thies, talk for him. Thies, when pressed, said that the private and campaign funds used for the Korean trip were the senator's resources, not someone else's.

Sampson would not answer any questions on the subject, just as he refused to when he was Senate leader. Adams' Senate website provided captioned pictures from the trip. And his campaign filings show he spent more than $3,000 for the journey, mostly for airfare for himself and a sum for Tracey Collins, a Brooklyn woman who does not work for the Senate. An Adams campaign aide said Collins was reimbursed $1,400 by the Adams campaign for buying his ticket, and that $1,495 paid by the campaign to Korean Air was airfare for his chief of staff, Ingrid Lewis-Martin. The Adams campaign also paid $201 to the Pullman Ambassador Hotel in Changwon, South Korea. The day before the Korean trip, Sampson's campaign reimbursed Sampson $1,867 and the Democratic Senate majority's intergovernmental relations officer Carrie Mobley $1,288 for unspecified expenses.

Steven Greenberg, a spokesman for Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman and Dicker, the top lobbying firm in Albany for the past 16 years, confirmed that Stacey Rowland accompanied the senators on the Korea trip while she worked for the firm. Rowland was on vacation and was not paid or reimbursed by Wilson, Elser, which still employs her, he said. Greenberg said the firm knew Rowland was going to Korea with the senators before she left. He said none of the firm's clients were among the companies visited.

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Do you have a story about waste and abuse of public funds? Contact James M. Odato at 518-454-5083, jodato@timesunion.com or on Twitter at @JamesMOdato

Several people familiar with Rowland say she has been a close friend of Sampson, who was the leader of the Senate Democrats at the time of the trip. On May 6, Sampson was accused by federal prosecutors of embezzling $440,000 in escrow funds he was responsible for handling as a court-appointed mortgage foreclosure referee, starting in 1998. Adams has not been accused of any crimes. Principals of several lobbying firms say they would discourage or prevent one of their lobbyists from vacationing with a sitting elected leader. Rowland, who has had several public jobs, would not discuss the trip. Wilson, Elser's website says, "Stacey has access to key decision-makers whose assistance can help her clients meet their objectives." David Grandeau, head of the defunct state lobbying commission, said lobbyists and politicians lobbied by their firms can have personal relationships. "If you're a lobbyist and you're going on a vacation with a public official, I would caution you that you have to be careful; you have to pay your own expenses," said Grandeau. Lobbyists are generally not allowed to provide gifts to lawmakers if the gifts are business expenses or if they are reimbursed for the costs.

Thies, who is working on Adams' bid to become Brooklyn borough president, would not provide the reason for the trip, a list of those who traveled or an itinerary for the venture. Adams' Senate website said the "Senate delegation" visited Wonju City, South Korea, and were greeted by Deputy Mayor Yoong-Hoon Park, and that they went to RDF's Green Industrial Waste Management facility in Buscan, Household Refuse Management in Wonju, and Hyundai's High Speed Rail system. Senate Democratic spokesman Michael Murphy would not answer questions about the trip, referring a reporter to Adams and Sampson.

"Why not be aboveboard if it is indeed a kind of fact-finding trip or a trip to benefit something about New York or New Yorkers?" asked Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause. She said campaign funds should be used for an election, not to support a lifestyle, or a vacation with friends. "This is why we need wholesale reform of New York state's campaign laws and enforcement of campaign laws," she said.

Dick Dadey, executive director of Citizens Union, said it is impossible to rule out conflicts of interest because the purpose of the trip and how it was paid for haven't been disclosed. "Given the insidious nature of Albany politics brought to light in the last few weeks, it becomes even more necessary for these kinds of questions to be answered," he said.